SOUTH AFRICA CHOSEN TO HOST FIRST WHO COVID mRNA VACCINE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER HUB
By Peter Fabricius• 21 June 2021
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (right), and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron bump elbows during a press conference at the Union Buildings, Pretoria on 28 May 2021. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Themba Hadebe / Pool)
But only a generous transfer of surplus vaccines from the rich North to the poor South can prevent an immediate catastrophe, the WHO says.
With Covid-19 surging in Africa and a large continental shortage of vaccines, South Africa has been chosen to host the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) first Covid-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology transfer hub to scale up production and access to vaccines.
This will be the first in a series of Covid mRNA vaccine technology transfer hubs that the WHO is launching around the world to boost Covid-19 vaccine supplies.
It will be established by a South African consortium comprising the companies Biovac and Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines and a network of universities, partnering with the WHO and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).